Sam Bankman-Fried isn’t done talking. The former FTX founder, now serving a 25-year prison sentence, resurfaced on social media with explosive claims that his 2022 arrest was politically driven. Posting through a friend on GETTR, he alleged the Biden administration targeted him after he quietly donated millions to Republicans — just weeks before he was set to testify before Congress. He also accused former SEC Chair Gary Gensler of conveniently losing key internal messages from that same period. With his appeal ongoing and the crypto world still divided over his downfall, SBF’s latest accusations have reignited the debate over how deep politics runs in U.S. crypto regulation.
Did Politics Play a Role in SBF’s Arrest?
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the collapsed FTX exchange, claimed his 2022 arrest wasn’t just about fraud—it was political. In a Wednesday post on the social media platform GETTR, he said the Biden administration went after him as retaliation for donating tens of millions to Republicans.
According to Bankman-Fried, he had shifted from being center-left in 2020 to a more centrist stance by 2022, frustrated with how U.S. regulators were cracking down on crypto under SEC Chair Gary Gensler and the Department of Justice. He alleged his arrest came just weeks before a crypto bill he supported was up for a congressional vote—and the night before he was scheduled to testify before Congress.
The Missing SEC Messages
Bankman-Fried reignited an old controversy about missing SEC records. He claimed Gary Gensler’s internal messages from October 2022 to September 2023—covering the period of his arrest and major enforcement actions against Coinbase and Binance—were “conveniently lost.”
An official investigation by the SEC’s Office of Inspector General later revealed that a poorly understood automated IT policy caused an “enterprise wipe” of Gensler’s government-issued mobile device, deleting texts from that entire year. The timing only deepened suspicions for some lawmakers who believed Bankman-Fried’s arrest was meant to silence him before his congressional testimony.
House Republicans Wanted Answers
Following SBF’s arrest, several House Republicans questioned why the arrest happened right before he was set to testify. They demanded Gensler hand over internal SEC communications related to the FTX case. The new revelations about the deleted messages have reignited those questions, though the SEC and DOJ have yet to comment.
What Happens Next for SBF?
Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on multiple fraud and conspiracy charges for stealing billions in customer funds from FTX. He’s serving a 25-year prison sentence but continues to appeal the conviction. His family has been campaigning for clemency, reportedly hoping for intervention from Donald Trump—who recently pardoned Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht.
Posting from prison through a friend, SBF insists he was wrongfully targeted, saying, “I can’t post directly; I dictate to a friend via approved BOP phone/email.”
The Bigger Picture
Whether you believe SBF’s claims or not, his accusations pull the curtain back on a bigger debate—how political and regulatory power intertwine with the fast-moving crypto industry. As the SEC faces mounting scrutiny over its transparency, one thing’s clear: the fallout from FTX isn’t over yet.